nality among the Muslim culture is that of arranged marriages. In this interview I was informed that approximately eighty-percent of marriages were arranged. However what Moe defined to me as arranged marriages were a lot different than what I had assumed these marriages were. I always thought that an arranged marriage meant that both the groom and bride to be had no say in who their future spouse would be. My assumption was wrong; Moe informed me that if the man or woman says no, then the marriage will not happen. It turns that in Moes culture the concept of arranged marriage is more of way for parents to approve of a union than to actually decide who their child is going to marry. Moe told me that he met his wife at another couples wedding and that after deciding he wanted to marry her, he told his parents and asked them to approach the parents of the bride to be. Both sets of parents approved the marriage and the rest is history. Another very interesting aspect of Moes culture is one that has been addressed quite a bit in this class. Islam allows polygamy, in more specific polygyny. Moe informed me that Islam allows a man to have up to four wives, but there are guide lines to that. First of all a man may search for another wife if his wife cannot give children, the man is unhappy or desires more sexually. Then the man must have the consideration to tell and ask his current wife or wives, but the wife must allow it. Once the man is married to more than one woman he must maintain identical standards for each wife. For example, each wife must have a completely separate home and all of the houses must be similar and equal. Another important factor of the Muslim social structure is that they believe in what Moe described as a joint family system this is what anthropology defines as an extended family. Moe said that until recently he lived in a house with his wife and children, his parents, his brother and his wife and three children, and ...
